Only 8 days left

With only 8 days left to go, we are getting very busy as we try to finish packing up before we go to Lilongwe on the 30^th.  To show their appreciation for us, the nursery put together a going away party for us with cookies, snacks, pop, and the whole 9 yards.  They even did a little skit that showed the procedure we use when we receive a baby.  They even used a real baby believe it or not!  They also gave my mom and dad a gift of some traditional clothing.  I think it was very nice of them to do this for us.

Not only did the nursery do something for us, but our assembly also gave us a gift of a carved rhino and some chitenjes.  The funny part was that they had to borrow some money from my dad to buy the gifts! 

Although I am happy to go home for a break, I am still sad to be leaving Malawi and the babies and friends we came to love.  I think that I would feel much better if I knew that I was coming back soon.  Even though I would want to come back to Malawi, whatever god has planned for all of us will happen his way not ours.  A couple months ago, I was looking forward to leaving Malawi, but now that the time is really close, I am not looking forward to it as I was before.

We will be leaving Mzuzu on the 30^th August and stay in Lilongwe until our flight on the 4^th of September.  I think that all of the nannies at the nursery dread our leaving and keep asking us if we are coming back soon and to please write to them while we are in the U.S.

 

Kris

 

                                                                           

Bridget's Passport

            Today, we just got back from Lilongwe to try to get Bridget’s passport done.  A few days before we had left Lilongwe, we had gotten Bridget’s picture and the birth certificate needed for her passport.  The plan was to have the people that had the information send the paperwork to Lilongwe then we would go to there to pick up the passport that should be finished.  When we went to Lilongwe, the paper work had not arrived so the passport was not ready.  They (the people at the U.S. embassy) said to come back the next day when the paper should arrive.  The next day the information needed still had not arrived.  So we left Lilongwe that day with nothing useful done and would still have to come back some time later to pick up the passport when ever it would be ready.  With only 3 weeks left until we leave, we are getting pretty desperate to get all of the things needed to take Bridget home with us.  Please pray that we will be able to get Bridget’s passport without anymore delays.

 

Kris

 

 

 

A True "Malawian" Experience

            On our way to a village near the lake, we passed a tractor towing a pickup and going very slow.  Well we passed it with no problem and kept on going.  Seeing this kind of thing was not unusual, so we thought nothing of it.  A while later we passed a semi truck that had tipped over and had dumped over bales of something, possibly cotton.  Since seeing this kind of thing was not unusual either so we kept on going.  We arrived at the village of Mkondezi and didn’t have too much of a problem except a drunk guy in the middle of the road that banged on our windows as we passed.  After a great teaching about baptism and a few questions answered by my dad, we went on our way.  About half way back home, we met the tractor that had been hauling the pickup, except this time it was going so slow that it wasn’t moving at all!  Well, the tractor had a very good reason to be stopped in that a pickup had run into it and was pretty much smashed and the tractor definitely was not in much better condition.  The pickup that the tractor had been towing was now on the other side of the road with the front end a little damaged. 

Seeing a tipped truck is not unusual, in that we see at least one on every trip we make on a highway. But a tractor and two pickups wrecked was a little more abnormal.  I have only seen a wreck like this once or twice before here in Malawi.  Although I don’t know if anyone was seriously hurt in that accident, we can hope that whoever was involved in this accident was a Christian so that they would go to heaven rather than a place worse than any car accident imaginable.

 

Kris

 

 

 

Our Babies

          As I am sure you all know, we are going home in September.  I have enjoyed being here and have loved all of the babies that have come to our nursery.  I hope that I can come back some time to see the nursery that our family started.  While I have been here trying to save babies, I have learned that no matter how healthy the babies appear, we need to give them the best care that we can.  Some babies that we have gotten have appeared quite healthy and later died.  Some have been sick when they came and are now very healthy and happy.  I have learned a lot being in Malawi that will probably be useful to me at some later date.  Even though we are leaving Malawi, I am sure there are many more things that God would have us to do.  Although I am not sure what those things are, I should do them as to the Lord.

             “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31

In the 11 months that our nursery has been running, we have received 20 babies.  5 have died, 2 have been adopted, and 2 have gone home to be with their family.  I hope that many more babies will come to our nursery so that they have a chance to do something for God.  How can anyone do anything for God if they are dead?

 

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”  James 1:27

 

Kris 

 

 

 

The Cold Weather is Upon Us

            As I’m sure you all know we are in the southern hemisphere while the U.S. is in the northern hemisphere.  So in June-August while it is hot in the U.S., it is cold here in Malawi.  Since we figured anywhere in Africa was hot, we didn’t bring much that would be suitable for cool weather.  Thankfully, we did bring some sweat pants and sweat shirts and good blankets that have helped a lot.  The weather is opposite that of the U.S.  We are used to having hot weather in July, so it is unusual for us to have cold weather now.  Fortunately, the place that we are staying at has a working fireplace which we can use to help heat the house.  Before the robbery the house that we were living at had an unusable fireplace so it was quite cold most of the time.  Although we had it rebuilt once, it still fails to work.  I will be quite thankful when this cold season is over.  

 

Coming Home

            As I am sure you all know we plan on coming home sooner than we had planned because of certain events (mainly another robbery).  We think God is telling us that we have finished our work here and need a break.  I think that we have gotten a lot done here in the past year.  We have housed a total of 17 babies, gotten robbed twice, gotten land to build a permanent nursery, and hired most of the help needed to run the nursery.  I am looking forward to coming home and seeing white faces again!  Once again our plans didn’t line up with what God has in line for us.   

 

Kris

 

 

 

YAMIKANI

By Matthew (06/13/07)

This morning, our second death in the nursery occurred. Yamikani, (girl) died in the hospital some time this morning. She was one of the youngest babies in the nursery, and was sick a lot (breathing problems, etc.)   

We were very sad about it. This has been our second baby to die, (the first one was Jacob) and we were hoping she would get well. It was a big disappointment for all of us.

 

(Note: We currently have 2 babies in the nursery:

Gift & McDonald.)

 

 

 

One Year!

Today on June the 1^st, we have been here for one year!  For all of us children, this is a milestone because it means that we have only one year left on our timetable.  We're hoping the Lord's timetable is the same as ours, but by now we have learned it usually isn't.  God has blessed the ministry we have here.  Allow me to outline our year for you;

 

          June 1, 2006- We arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi at approximately 1:00 P.M.

 

          June 18- We moved to Mzuzu City, into our present home.

 

June 28- We were robbed by a gang of about 6-8 men.  Thankfully, we recovered from the incident fairly well, and it sped up our nursery project.  As Joseph said, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."  Genesis 50:20

 

July 7- Sarah had her 9^th birthday.

 

July - early August – We began to ready our west wing of the house for the nursery.  We talked to Social Welfare and discussed plans for the nursery. 

 

August 2- Andrew had his 10^th birthday.

 

August 28- We received our first baby, Mphatso.  He was slightly undersized, but we promptly fattened him up and he is coming along fine.

 

August 30- Bridget came to our nursery. She was abandoned by her mother at a daycare.  She was very malnourished when we got her, and very expressionless.  Now, she is a little pistol, and full of expression (some good and some bad). 

 

September 20 - We received little Samson and Jacob (he passed away on the 26^th of November.)  Samson is slowly catching up to what a baby his age should be at.

 

September 21 - We got Blessings.  He was very upset when we first got him, but he adjusted after about a week.  He liked to listen to the radio and bounce along with the rhythm. 

 

September 22^nd- Alina turned 5. 

 

October 3^rd- Loti came to our nursery.  He was and still is a very serious faced baby.  Dad always says he would make a great politician.

 

October 10^th- Leya arrived.  She was the favorite in the nursery, and was adopted by the Sherbino family in January.

 

November 17^th- Matthew turned 11.

 

December 10^th- Gift was # 8.  He was small, but he is very fat now!

 

December 17^th- Kris' 15^th Birthday

 

January 8^th, 2007- We received Siphiwe.  She was in fine shape, but the grandmother was sick, so adoption was a possible option.  However, the grandmother recovered, and she will go back to her family.  She has a very loud scream!

 

January 26^th- Innocent arrived.  He is #10 baby, and he is still with us.  He had the softest hair, but he got buzzed just like all of the other boys.

 

March 24^th- Dad's birthday! (I won't tell what his age is)

 

March 26^th- Joshua Clark came from the United States to visit us.  He stayed for 10 days.

 

March 27^th- Yamikani came to our nursery.  Joshua got to see firsthand how we get babies. 

 

March 28^th- We celebrated Mphatso's and Bridget's first birthday!  We had a great party and the caretakers sang many songs for us. 

 

March 29^th- Macdonald arrived on Joshua's lap.  He is the chunkiest one in the nursery now. 

 

April 19^th- Mom's Birthday! (I won't tell which one!)

 

May 22^nd- Mom and Dad's 25^th Anniversary!  Their gift was baby #13, Solomon.

 

May 23^rd- Jared's 17^th Birthday!

 

June 1, 2007- One year here in Malawi!  We look forward to being back in the States next year sometime!

 

 

           As you can see, we had a very eventful year, especially with the nursery.  The time seemed to drag until around January, and then it flew by!  It hardly seems like a year.  Some days, especially nowadays in the cold season again, just drag by.  Thanks to everyone for their support during the last year. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Poisonous "Worm" (and Toad)

             Yesterday, when Jared was working in the garden, he saw out of the corner of his eye, a small slender thing about 6 inches long.  Because he thought it was a worm, he bent down to catch it and found that it was actually a snake!  So he brought it up to the driveway so that everybody could see it.  On the trip up, the snake had indigestion and puked up a frog!  The frog was about 1 ½ inches long and was wider than the snake itself!  We took a few pictures of the snake and killed it and burned it up.

            Later the same day we found a poisonous toad on our kitchen window (on the outside).  It was about 3 inches long and 3 inches wide!  We couldn’t figure out how it had climbed all the way up 4 feet of cement and then climb all the way up to the top of the window!  Well, our cook said that if I spray it with doom it will die.  I didn’t think so but tried it anyways.  It didn’t die.  After attempt 1, I tried attempt 2 which required knocking it off of the window and killing it.  I knocked it off of the window with no trouble, but as you know this was a poisonous toad so it started inflating itself which caused its poison to begin appearing on its back!

Our cook decided that I wasn’t qualified to kill it so he proceeded to kill it himself!  He used the stick and whacked the toad as hard as he could.  Since the toad was inflated, when he whacked it, it made squeaking sounds as the air escaped from its body!  Finally, after a few hits the toad finally went stiff and died.   

                          

 

 

 

Our 2 Latest Editions to the Nursery

            During the last week of February, we received 2 more babies!  The first was a 2 month old baby girl and weighed only 1.8 Kg’s (about 4 pounds)!  This has been the smallest baby we have received.  Her name is Yamikani.  The other baby we received was 5 months old and appears to be normal sized.  His name is McDonald.   Interesting name isn’t it? We have nicknamed him Big Mac. 

            Our nursery is now at its limit which is 8 babies not including Bridget.  In our Mzuzu nursery we have had 12 babies.  So what about the other 4?  One has died (Jacob), 2 have been adopted (Leah and Bridget), and another has been returned to its family (Blessings).  We hope to help many more orphan babies that need true care.

 

Kris

 

Bugs in the Food

About a week ago, we all sat down at the table, ready to eat dinner.  We thanked God for the food and Mom started serving up.  She opened the warmer which contained the noodles and was quite surprised to find that there were about half a dozen small pin-head sized beetles already there.  They weren’t in any shape to fight for their food, since they had just been boiled for several minutes and steamed inside the warmer.  We deduced that they had been in the bag of noodles the whole time and that our older aged cook had just missed seeing them. She served the noodles and told us that if we wanted to pick out the bugs first before we got the sauce we could. Several of us opted for this, but Dad just decided to eat them, bugs and all. He didn’t seem to suffer any stomach problems later.

Around the same time period, when my dad went out to a village to see about an orphan, he found a NASFAM store, which is a store which sells small-holder farmers products.  We’ve bought good rice from NASFAM before, so Dad got two bags.  When he got home, we examined the rice and noticed that it looked pretty poor, with a few bugs in it here and there, but nothing serious.  A few days ago, when we went to fill our rice container for the cook, the bugs were partying, with bugs of all ages invited.  We poured out the rice into a flat pan to sort the bugs out, and found bugs in all stages of development, including larvae, worms, medium sized beetles and adults.  The adults were about the size of match heads.  We surrendered “Operation Extermination” and began “Operation Distribution.”  We gave all the rice to the grateful employees, who usually only eat corn flour porridge. They were very thankful for it. When we get back to the States, one thing we won’t miss is the battles with bugs.

 

 

Jared Langdon

 

The Beach House at Chinteche

            After 5 1/2 months of running the nursery here, we decided we needed another break!  After shopping around for a place to vacation, we found a great place right on Lake Malawi near a small town called Chinteche that would accommodate our whole family comfortably.  The beach house we went to is not like a hotel in that we could be there alone with no neighbors!  We decided that we would stay there for a couple nights so that we would have plenty of time to enjoy the lake and swim in it.

            When we arrived there, we found that it was a great place considering that it was in Malawi.  There were 4 rooms with 2 beds in each room; just right for all of us (we brought a crib for Bridget).  The whole time we were there, the weather was great and perfect for swimming.  The house also included help that would wash the dishes and keep the house clean!  It was nice to go to sleep to the sound of the waves on the beach.

            When the vacation was over, we were quite disappointed to have to leave after enjoying the place so much.  I am sure that we will go back there again because we enjoyed it so much.  It was nice to get away from the noise of the nursery and enjoy ourselves.

 

Kris

 

 

 

The Rat

            A couple days ago when my mom went to do the laundry in our pantry/laundry room, what should run across the floor but the biggest rat I’ve ever seen!  Since Jared and I are the rat exterminators around here, we were sent to exterminate the rat. When we arrived on the case, our mom told us that she thought the rat went under the washer.  With that information, I knelt on the floor as Jared lifted the washer so that I could see our ugly furry friend and hopefully “destroy” it with our “all purpose” broom.  Well, I saw it all right and it was the largest and ugliest rat I had ever seen in my life (no kidding).  When I took my eyes off of him for just a second to prepare for the battle with my deadly weapon, he disappeared!  We figured he had gone up in the washer so we tried shaking him out with no avail.  Sorry to say, we had to surrender to the rat, but before totally “surrendering”, I sprinkled some rat poison around the washer so that there was still a chance of winning this battle.

            The next morning, I decided to check the washer again for the mouse and discovered that all of the rat poison I had sprinkled around the washer was gone.  Victory!  The only problem was that the rat was nowhere to be seen.  Sooner or later I was sure that someone would find it do to the smell.  It always seems to be easy to find dead things because they stink very badly.

            A couple days afterwards, Mom noticed that Sarah and Alina’s room had a peculiar smell.  She didn’t think anything of it because this was on the other side of the house from the pantry.  At least she didn’t think anything of it until the next day when maggots started falling out of the ceiling of their bathroom which is just next door.

            Once again the rat exterminators were sent to look in the attic for whatever was causing the awful smell and the maggots.  We prepared ourselves with a plastic bag, Doom (bug poison), and flashlights.  After climbing into the ceiling, we worked our way toward the area in which the awful smell and maggots had come from.  The awful stench was getting pretty strong now (we forgot to bring gasmasks).  Since we knew we were quite close to the spot where the dead “thing” was, we started shining our flashlights around looking for the odor-generating substance.  Then we saw what looked like a lizard’s tail resting on a rafter with maggots and ants all over it.  Upon closer examination, it appeared to be the rat in which we had been after for the past few days.  It was a pretty awful sight since it was about half rotten and smelled that bad.  Well, Jared decided to be the one to grab the rat and put it in the bag (I forgot to tell you that we did bring gloves).  After spraying the area well with Doom we made a quick evacuation out of there and onto the welcoming arms of the family.  Whew, what an experience!  

 

Kris

 

 

 

 

About Bridget

            As I’m sure you all know, one of the orphans we are caring for is Bridget.  Bridget is now 22 months old which is definitely too old for our nursery which is suited for babies, not toddlers.  When we received Bridget, she was about 18 months.  The only reason we took her in was because she was severely malnourished and needed immediate care.  She also had been abandoned at a day care and not taken care of.  At this point, she is in good health and could be returned to family.  The only problem is that her family was nowhere to be found. 

            The only thing that we can do for Bridget now is either adopt her or go to an orphanage called Rafiki.  This orphanage only receives double-orphans which are orphans that don’t have any parents.  Bridget is considered a double-orphan, so she qualifies for Rafiki.  We still haven’t decided whether to adopt her or send her to Rafiki.  We know that whatever God wants will happen.

 

Kris

 

 

 

Baby #10

            On the 26^th of this month, we received our 10^th baby.  This new one is a 2 week old boy named Innocent.  This baby already has quite a head of hair for his age.  His mother is mentally ill and unable to care for him.

I am very excited that we have received our 10^th baby.  I hope that we will be able to help many more in the future.   In the nursery part of our house we are caring for 7 babies.  In our part of the house we are taking care of Bridget most of the time (except for on special occasions when she goes to the nursery for awhile).  As you can tell, we are caring for 8 orphans because 1 has been adopted and the other one died.  I am hoping that more will be adoptable so that we can receive even more! 

 

Kris

 

Another Adoption?

          I am sure you have heard about our most recent baby Siphiwe.  This new baby is an 8 month old baby girl who doesn’t have a mother and her father is somewhere outside Malawi.  Right now her only guardian is a grandma which had been caring for her after her mother died.  Well, we already know about a family who wants to adopt a baby girl and Siphiwe is the only one.  This family is from Germany.  They have already visited us and have fallen in love with little Siphiwe.  After deciding that they would adopt her we found out that her grandma did not want that to happen but didn’t want to take care of her either.  Right now we are waiting for Siphiwe’s grandma to make a final decision as to whether she should be adopted or if she should go back to her. 

          This same family also appears to be interested in our 14 month old boy Blessings.  With Blessings being 14 months, he is already too old for our nursery to take care of because he gets into everything and needs to be watched constantly.  We hope that Blessing’s blind mother will agree to this adoption. She doesn’t want him to be adopted unless that family stays in Malawi so that he can assist her when he gets older. We know that whatever happens will be God’s will and not ours (Our will is that they will both be adoptable).  

Kris

 

 

 

 

Malawian Tools

 

            In Malawi, since manual labor is the main force with which things are done, there are very few power tools.  Most of the tools are similar to American gardening tools, such as shovels, rakes, and forks.  But there are a few that are different, as well as some methods that are different. The two tools I will describe are probably the most used tools in Malawi.

The first one is what they call a hoe.  It is similar to the American hoe, but the flat part is the size of a shovel, and the handle is only about 3 feet long.  This is probably the most used tool in all of Malawi.  They use it to dig holes and trenches, hoe up ridges for their gardens, and weed the gardens.  It is a very universal tool to them. It is not uncommon to see almost everybody in their gardens using one just before and in the rainy season.  They work all day long, preparing their little plots of land, getting them ready for the growing season.

            The next tool is one that I am pretty sure you will not ever find in America.  It is called a “slasher.’  This is what many of them use instead of a lawnmower because it is lots cheaper and doesn’t require anything to keep it running except one arm and maybe a rock or steel file to keep it sharp.  They swing it in a semicircle in the area in front of them at ground level to cut the grass.  It is a long, flat metal blade with the last six inches bent at a 45˚ so that you can swing it while standing. The last six inches is the sharp part which is used to cut the grass.  It is sharp on both edges so that you can cut on the forward swing and the backswing.  I estimate that it takes a Malawian about half an hour to do an area of 20’ X 20’. It takes a Mazungu (a white foreigner) about twice that time.  The time it takes partially depends on the type of grass that you are cutting. When you are slashing, you learn pretty quickly which grass is easy to cut and which is harder. 

            Some of the methods they use for fixing things are pretty interesting as well.  The two most universal patching materials and anti-leak materials are plastic bags and rubber tire tubes.  For the plumbing, in a country where pipe-dope is not plentiful and pretty expensive, they learned to use plastics bags.  When they need to thread a joint and a pipe together, they wrap the threaded end in plastic before screwing the two together.  This way, you stand only a 50% chance of it leaking at that joint.  You end up with a couple more showering areas, most of them above in the ceiling, which is where they run a lot of pipe.

            The other most universal material is rubber tire tubes.  You see rubber being used in many different ways.  Some wrap it around the handles of their tools to help soften the grip.  But most use it as straps and for repair purposes.  Lots of people ride bikes with little flat metal platforms on the back, used for carrying goods around.  They use the bicycle tube to strap everything on tight. When something breaks, you will often see that it is held together with strips of bicycle tube.  It is almost used like tape. 

            In a country that is as poor as Malawi is, you can see that where there is a will, there is a way.  They can take what we would normally consider trash and use is for something useful.  With no garbage service, a lot of things end up getting recycled. A lot of our help takes home the formula cans, the empty peanut butter containers, and anything that will hold something else. This works both out well for both parties because it saves us the trouble of disposing it.  When we get back, don’t be surprised if we ask you why you are throwing away that foil that has only been used once, or that perfectly fine empty jam jar.  We’ll have a new outlook on garbage.

           

Another Baby Gone

                Another baby left today, but this time it was in a good way.  A Christian family in Blantyre wanted to adopt a baby girl and we were the only place that had one open for adoption.  So, last week the Sherbinos came up to Mzuzu to see our 3 month old Leya.  They took her home then for foster care and planned on coming back to Mzuzu in a couple weeks to go to court and actually adopt her.  Well, the court date ended up being just a week earlier than planned, so the Sherbinos came back and visited us for another few days (which we enjoyed very much).  Just today they took Leya home with them for good.  Although we miss little Leya very much, we are very thankful that she now has her own Christian family to take of her.

 

Kris

 

 

Another Baby Gone

                Another baby left today, but this time it was in a good way.  A Christian family in Blantyre wanted to adopt a baby girl and we were the only place that had one open for adoption.  So, last week the Sherbinos came up to Mzuzu to see our 3 month old Leya.  They took her home then for foster care and planned on coming back to Mzuzu in a couple weeks to go to court and actually adopt her.  Well, the court date ended up being just a week earlier than planned, so the Sherbinos came back and visited us for another few days (which we enjoyed very much).  Just today they took Leya home with them for good.  Although we miss little Leya very much, we are very thankful that she now has her own Christian family to take of her.

 

Kris